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The Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Ho Chi Minh City downtown has affirmed plans to work with other local zoos and exchange some of its tigers and monkeys for camels and Arctic foxes.

A statement from the zoo, which is one of the most popular family destinations in District 1, said it will transfer two Bengal tigers, four Indochinese tigers and three langurs to Cu Chi Water Park in the northwest district to receive two camels and four Arctic foxes in return. The water park, also doubles as a zoo, will also send over two white tigers, one zebra and five ostriches.

The zoo will also exchange two Bengal tiger cubs, two yellow-cheeked gibbons and a python with the Prenn, a tourist park in Da Lat famous for the namesake waterfalls, for two ostriches and five shelducks.

A tourism company in Hanoi will also deliver two hyenas in exchange for two yellow-cheeked gibbons from the zoo.

The Saigon Zoo said last October it could not afford to take care of all 16 tigers and that the optimal number would be 13.

Pham Van Tan, director of the zoo, said it is still waiting for the city government to approve the exchange plans, which he said will serve its exhibition, education and preservation purposes better.

The Saigon Zoo, which celebrated its 150th birthday last December, is now home to more than 1,000 animals from 124 species, including endangered monkeys, tigers and leopards.

More than 2,500 trees, some planted from the first days, give the 20-hectare (49 acres) area a good canopy.